Wayne Chism led the Tennessee Volunteers to a 59-49 win over the LSU Tigers in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday. (Getty Images)

The No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers (24-7, 12-5) knocked off the LSU Tigers (11-20, 2-15) in the first round of the 2010 SEC Basketball Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

The Volunteers struggled in the first half, but thoroughly dominated the second, outscoring LSU in the second half by 10 points.

The win for Tennessee sets up a second-round matchup with the Ole Miss Rebels (21-9, 9-7) tomorrow afternoon at 3:45 p.m. EST.

LSU flustered Tennessee in the first half, limiting Tennessee to just 21 points on 7-27 shooting from the floor (25.9%). The Tigers capitalized on eight Tennessee turnovers to maintain the lead for most of the half.

Forward Storm Warren led the Tigers in scoring in the first half, knocking down four of five shots for eight points. He finished with a game-high 18 points.

The Volunteers finally found an offensive rhythm in the last five minutes of the half, after scoring just 10 points in the first fifteen minutes of the game.

Forward Wayne Chism scored seven of Tennessee's first nine points before J.P. Prince and Brian Williams heated up towards the end of the half to tie things up with LSU at 21 heading into the locker room.

Tennessee came out on fire in the second half taking the lead just one minute in. The Volunteers used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to take control of the game, and they would not trail again.

A three pointer from Chism and an alley-oop dunk from Bobby Maze to Prince put the finishing touch on the Tigers, as Tennessee cruised to the 59-49 win.

The Volunteers shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, taking control on the offensive end and frustrating LSU star Tasmin Mitchell on the defensive end.

Mitchell finished with just 10 points on 4-12 shooting (33.3%). He had only four points in the first 38.5 minutes, but drained two three-pointers in the final two minutes to increase his point total.

Both Mitchell and Warren also got into foul trouble early in the second half, limiting their ability to play the same type of aggressive defense they did in the first half.

Chism finished with a team-high 17 points for the Volunteers and his senior leadership helped lead Tennessee past the shallow, experience-thin LSU team.

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